Editor's Note: Social media shine light on lost connections

Just the other day, a picture of a guy I went to college with came across my Facebook feed.

Staring back from the screen was a middle-aged, All-American looking dad with graying hair sitting next to his son at a baseball game — not the image I still had in my mind of a twentysomething hipster who turned the heads of coeds when he walked by them on campus.

It struck me just how long it has been since I've seen some of my Facebook friends. Has it really been 20 years? Or — in some cases — closing in on 30 years since we passed each other in the hall on the way to class?

Honestly, I like Facebook — except of course the barrage of "A rare giant tortoise ended up on a busy Los Angeles freeway, and you'll never guess what happened next" videos. It gives me a glimpse into the lives of people I used to see every day. One high school Facebook friend is now a grandmother twice over, while another just had her second child two weeks ago.

One of them I haven't seen in person since I was my daughter's age. We were kindergarten buddies who spent hours playing "Super Friends" on the jungle gym. He moved about 20 miles away after first grade. It might as well have been Australia.

Then one day, I had a message on my Facebook page: "Are you Kim from Marcy Elementary?" I was.

We were born just a few days apart, and, it turns out, so were our children. Just like us, my daughter and his son started kindergarten on the same day.

Aside from the fact that a lot of my friends seem to take a lot more vacations than I do — and to much more exotic places — I enjoying knowing all the different paths they've taken in life.

We try to do the same for our readers — whether still in town or separated from Humboldt County by time and distance — on the Times-Standard Facebook page.

Being social media, The Times-Standard Facebook page is there to offer not only the latest news but a little glimpse into all the aspects that make Humboldt County such a unique and special place to live.

You can always message us questions and story ideas as well.

Whether it's weather reports that show another 65-degree day on the coast while other areas of the state swelter in triple digits or a photo of firefighters giving oxygen to a cat rescued from a house fire or the winning image of a majestic elk on the shores of Stone Lagoon, we try each day to capture the spirit of Humboldt County.